Vuko POV
He's big and I haven't seen him before. I glance at Ana but she's transfixed. Her eyes are wide. I'm guessing she hasn't seen him before either.
The other Alphas have begun to crowd the field. Among them is Didi's father. He steps forward.
"You are not Ironwolf," he says.
Didi--and Silvia's--father was once an imposing sight. Tall with silver hair, he was the only one who ever stood up to my father. Since Silvia's banishment though, he has become stooped, old.
At first I think he is talking to Didi. But he is addressing the giant who will be Didi's champion.
Didi answers for his champion. "No, he is not Ironwolf," he says to his father and I'm relieved that there is still respect in his voice. But he is also resolute, "You need to step aside, Dad. This is a new pack. My pack. You have no jurisdiction over us."
I'm aware of the murmuring of the crowd at the edge of the field. Didi has just declared himself an Alpha.
"I accept," I say, stepping forward. Another instance of my body acting before my mind because my mind is a lot less sure of this.
The field is cleared. Word must have spread of what's happening because it seems to me that in minutes, all of the packs are around the field and there is a low murmur of excitement.
They should not be excited. This is bad. Because I will win and Didi will lose and that will make him more determined. And even though I don't want to admit it, his gang is looking a lot like a pack.
Ana brings me water as Didi refuses to acknowledge the judge the other Alphas have brought forward. He turns his back. He's actually right. First Combat rules don't require a judge. They require one fighter to survive and the other to concede. Or die.
Shit.
When I look at Ana I think she see's what's going through my head.
"Vuko," she says, stepping in close. She has something in her hand. "I don't like the look of this. Take this. If it comes to it, just use it. It won't kill him but ..."
Then she's fastening a leather strap to my wrist. She takes my hand and turns it wrist outwards so that I can see the sigil. I look at her.
"Ana, are you serious?" It's a silver sigil. Deadly to wolves. As long as it doesn't come into contact with a transformed wolf, it will have no effect. This tells me what Anahita thinks is going to happen.
She is pale so pale I can clearly see the blue tinge beneath her skin, the mark of the waterwolf. "Vuko, he means to kill you."
"You don't know that," I say but just then I look up and I see the guy looking at me and I think maybe it's a chance I don't want to take. I'm fast. But I'm not invincible.
Since there is no judge, there is no one to tell us to take our places. I glance at Didi. He knew he couldn't take me on so he used an arcane rule of combat to use a champion on his behalf. Me and Sylvia used to take him swimming down at the lake. I once chased away water spiders for him because they were making him cry.
He doesn't meet my eyes.
The champion takes loping strides toward me and I feel my body take over, Vi just beneath the surface guiding my movements. Steady, I mindlink, This is not yet your fight.
I settle into a defensive crouch, my fists closed and ready. I'm looking for his weakness. But as he increases his pace toward me it looks like he's just going to run right through me. Soft spots? I don't think this guy has any.
My body reacts while I'm still worrying about hitting his soft spots. I use his momentum against him, stepping straight into him with my body loose and ready. He barrels into and over me, landing on his back with a lung-emptying whump.
He should be out for the count but he's back on his feet in seconds, his eyes telling me he's recalibrating. Whoever he is, this is an experienced fighter. Next he comes at me in a flurry of fists and kicks, his movements so fast they blur. I breathe and my breath takes me out of time, so that his movements appear slow as treacle. I duck and dodge the blows easily, stepping around him and and using my straightened hand to land a perfectly aimed strike at his kidneys.
Again, he should be out. But he's not. He turns toward me and I think he's gotta be using magic. Because the freaking hell is he still standing?
I don't even know what I'm fighting at this point. I keep going because what else can I do. I settle into the earth, I make myself heavy, I need him to do all the work here while I focus my energy on finding that one spot that will bring him down. Every living thing has it.
Eyes, says Vi, watch his eyes.
I keep using my breath to slow things down so I can see what he is doing. Vi is right. The movement is miniscule, but it's there. When threatened, you will always check your weak spot. His eyes slip down to his feet. His legs are dead straight.
His legs are dead straight. He has no flexibility in his legs. That means his Achilles tendon is compromised. I turn and as I turn I release my left leg, my strongest, and I use the momentum of the turn to give it all the strength I have as I crash my heel into his left Achilles tendon. I hear it rupture with a sound like a thunder clap. He starts to topple and I'm exultant.
I can win this. Now I know I can.
But my relief is nearly my undoing. Even as he is toppling, I am still coming out of the turn and he lets one giant arm loose and I smack right into it.
Somehow I manage to stay upright but only just. I shake my head. My ears are still ringing.
Watch out.
I think it's Vi who calls out but it could also be Ana and I remember the leather strap and the sigil just in time as Didi's champion scrambles to his feet and leaps at me, transforming mid-leap into an enormous black wolf.
In that split-second I don't even think. I bring up my forearm, the wrist facing outwards in front of me as the black wolf opens his jaws, ready to latch onto my throat.
He gets the sigil instead and the effect is instant.
He falls to the ground.
Oh goddess, I think, please don't let him be dead.
That's when Beta Abir--absent all morning--runs up, out of breath.
I don't even speak to him.
He looks at me, looks at the black wolf on the ground. I see the wolf's chest rising and lowering. He's alive.
Then there are pack medics surrounding us, a stretcher for the black wolf and the noise of thousands of pack members replaying for each other what has just happened.
I have eyes only for Didi. If you didn't know him as well as I do, you would think he is unfazed by the defeat of his champion. But I still know Didi. And there's still something of the boy I knew in him. There's a flush to his cheeks and a slight tremble to his voice when he speaks.
"I did not tell him to do that," he says.
"Didi," I say, "If you want to lead a pack, you have to know the consequences of your actions." And I think for a moment he understands. But then I make a mistake, "Silvia, your sister would ..."
"Don't you dare say her name," he says and the arrogant wannabe pack-leader is back. No more sign of the old Didi. "And consider this a warning," he raises his voice and the crowd quietens, "Consider this a warning to all of you. The time of the old packs is done."
He turns to the fallen champion. "And keep this one. He's one of yours now."
He spits on the ground and leaves, followed by his pack. And it's clear. They are a pack and Didi is their Alpha.
Vuko POV Beta Abir disapppears again for the rest of that afternoon. I feel like an idiot going from pack to pack asking if they've seen my Beta so I give up after a bit. Nobody had seen him but apparently my battle against the champion has gained me some fans. Ana has to rescue me from one waterwolf who is all but sitting in my lap rubbing against me. The waterwolf (Tina? Bettina? Trina?) is really pretty and sweet. I admit that I was enjoying the attention. But mostly I was embarrassed. I'm male, I'm nearly twenty-one and I've been separated from my true love for four years. Can you even imagine how hard that is? Ana has little sympathy. "Your face!" she keeps saying, then bursting into laughter till the tears are running down her face, "Mr I-defeated-a-giant-but-turn-to-jelly-with-the-girls." Not like jelly at all, I want to say, but keep that to myself. As I finish my rounds, with Ana at my side as a sort of female-attenti
"Say that again," I say to Frey, unable to believe my ears. We are standing on the edge of the training field, the sky darkening around us, a chill in the air. I think about Winter coming and Beta Abir's news that Didi is planning an attack on the stores. I shiver. That would mean the destruction of his own family's pack too. Surely not? "I have information about Silvia, where she is," says Frey again. Silvia. For the past four years no one has said her name. Let alone told me where to find her. I have spent every day of the four years tormented by how I wasn't there for her. The night that was meant to be ours. Her Naming Ceremony. We had told each other that our wolves would find each other that night. It would be an early blessing from the Goddess--a confirmation of the destiny we have always believed in. We could not believe that the Goddess would make us wait another five years. We were such fools. So when Beta Abir came to me the afternoon befor
Silvia POVThe wolf looms in the alleyway, his fur almost blue-black. The streetlights behind him tip his dark fur with a glow like fire. He looks like he's just escaped from hell. He stalks closer, his lips drawn back from his mouth in a drooling, growling snarl.Silvia Ironwolf, the hunter mindlinks, You have been avoiding me.That's all the invitation Fer needs. I feel her push at me and I know this is her time. I glance at Luka--all of his attention is on the dark wolf--before the sweet-pain of my shift takes over and then I am Fer, standing with my tail and head held high, my paws planted firmly on the asphalt. She is unafraid. I am unafraid.Or so I tell myself.I do not know you, says Fer and I'm so proud of how fierce and low her voice is, You have terrorized this child. Explain yourself.I have a message for you, says the wolf.They say you see the attack fir
Silvia POV We stare at the pages before us. Luka has drawn us. Me and Fulvio. I look up and see the Witch--Esme--watching me with a smile. "I like your piercings," she says. I want to fall into bed and sleep for five years. My feet are still bleeding. I'm in a ripped and bloody pink waitress uniform. I've been attacked by the biggest wolf I've ever seen. Then rescued by another biggest wolf I've ever seen. And discovered my downstairs neighbour is a seer and his granny is a Witch. The same Witch who was at my Naming. Who is now complimenting me on my piercings. "Thanks," I say as she continues to grin at me. "I can't wait to find out how you're using your precious gift," she says. My precious gift! If my feet weren't so damned sore I'd run over there and ... I look down. My feet are still bleeding! I look behind me and see that I have left bloody foot prints in Luka's apartment. I look at his mom who has gone f
Silvia POV Fulvio changes back into his clothes after his shower and we find ourselves once again in front of Luka's apartment. I've changed into jeans and a t-shirt as well and brushed my hair out so it's more like I used to wear it. I'm not wearing any make up. In the bathroom mirror I stared at myself for a long time, wondering at this person I was seeing. It was like seeing an old friend after a long, long time. My eyes huge and dark, my hair falling in waves around my face. A little older and sadder than I once was. I try not to think about how Fulvio looked at me when I came out. He had that hungry look again and I didn't hate it. Fulvio knocks and we hear running footsteps and then the door is flung open. It's hard not to be happy yourself when someone looks that happy to see you. Luka is smiling and chatting already, telling us about the dinner his mom has made. I interrupt the flow of words to ask if he has a
Vuko POV That night I llie in bed and I stare up at the ceiling. It should be simple. Frey tells me that he knows where Silvia is. I go to fetch her. Happily ever after. The end. But it's not. I'm now Alpha of the pack responsible for her banishment. Oh, and she's been banished. But more confusing even is that tonight I feel like I saw Ana for the first time. Now I can't get her out of my mind. Ana is smart and funny. She challenges me. She's caring. She has incredible strength and agility--I have seen her run. I have seen her wolf, Akira, run. I've always known all of this. But now I have also seen that she is beautiful by any measure. She has the pale blue-tinged skin of all of her pack. Huge green eyes framed with thick black lashes. That froth of white hair around her head like river foam. Now I have seen her as female, with curves and smells that are intoxicating ... I groan and rubbed my fists in my eyes. Stop! I told my
Vuko POV Something no one tells you about Quests. There's a lot of walking, trudging, lumbering, plodding, slogging ... ... by the time the sun shimmers at the horizon behind me and the crescent moon dips below the horizon before me, I have thought of every word I know of to describe really, really, really boring walking. There is absolutely nothing here. I think of the stories we told each other when we were pups. About wraiths that lived beneath the sand of the Barren that would pull you down into their nests. They would paralyze you and then their grubs would feed off you, slowly eating you alive. That was a favorite. There are the roaming packs of wilder-scorpions, creatures that are half beast, half scorpion. Where the beast's tail should be is a scorpion's sting that will cause your skin to turn black and then they eat you alive. Then there was the one about the tumbleweed spiders. Their bodies transparent so all you see is ripples on t
Silvia POV Over the next week I decide Esme is the worst teacher I've ever had. And I didn't like any of my teachers back in the Wildlands. Now I've matured and suffered and I can see that maybe I wasn't the easiest student to teach, blah blah blah. The truth is I prefer to learn on my own. Since I was a pup I would grit my teeth and go completely rigid whenever an adult tried to make me do something I didn't want to do. Then when Fer announced herself at my Naming, I realised I was not the only one digging in her heels. If I'm obstinate then Fer is impossible. I like Esme. She's funny. I love the way her bracelets jangle when she moves (not silver, gold! She says 'moon gold' which I assume is a metaphor). I love the way she can go from sitting with her feet up to standing in full warrior stance. I asked her where she learned her fighting techniques --mostly to distract her from trying to teach me---and she said from the wind. I really can't